Well, Partygirl, you are much more than that. You expose the reality behind the curtain. The seduction of the simulation of that world, not sure exactly what it is, is just that seduction of a simulated world of values that is fleeting and gone with the wind. It points to how these simulacra of modern society are meant to distract us and support those who stand behind it. Fashion is one of these simulated worlds. Sex work is another. Politics another, religion, sports, lifestyle, and the list could go on and on.
In your Prologue, you write:
And if there’s any fault I come to find in the book, it’s this: by nature, nothing in nightlife is amenable to the rigors of sociology. There can be no impedance mismatch between analysis and subject; any true knowledge of this world will be neither objective nor subjective, but interactive:
If you cut things open, you can’t find the meaning inside. It doesn’t ooze out. So maybe meaningfulness is more like a fluid that suffuses objects. If you soak a sponge cake in rum, that invisible essence pervades the dessert, and you can’t specifically locate it—although you can taste it.
Very true. The meaning isn't in the material, but in the interactive of us as human beings with each other in the context of the material. I'm finding that people are beginning to recognize this as they process what their pandemic experience. They are different. They want to talk at q level that they wouldn't two years ago. Some are kinder and some are not. Going forward, it is the interaction that will be the most meaningful.
Last thing, I live in the leadership world. I have been thinking a lot about how so much of it is unreal, more a simulation, very much like The Matrix. Your pieces here are analogous to what I write about at my Substack site - edbrenegar.substack.com. I welcome some interaction, conversation about the world you are viewing and mine. I'm not short, thin, young or pretty. I do spend a lot of time talking with people in your generation. Let's talk. Thanks for really great writing.
TLDR, The next season of Westworld…
Well, Partygirl, you are much more than that. You expose the reality behind the curtain. The seduction of the simulation of that world, not sure exactly what it is, is just that seduction of a simulated world of values that is fleeting and gone with the wind. It points to how these simulacra of modern society are meant to distract us and support those who stand behind it. Fashion is one of these simulated worlds. Sex work is another. Politics another, religion, sports, lifestyle, and the list could go on and on.
In your Prologue, you write:
And if there’s any fault I come to find in the book, it’s this: by nature, nothing in nightlife is amenable to the rigors of sociology. There can be no impedance mismatch between analysis and subject; any true knowledge of this world will be neither objective nor subjective, but interactive:
If you cut things open, you can’t find the meaning inside. It doesn’t ooze out. So maybe meaningfulness is more like a fluid that suffuses objects. If you soak a sponge cake in rum, that invisible essence pervades the dessert, and you can’t specifically locate it—although you can taste it.
Very true. The meaning isn't in the material, but in the interactive of us as human beings with each other in the context of the material. I'm finding that people are beginning to recognize this as they process what their pandemic experience. They are different. They want to talk at q level that they wouldn't two years ago. Some are kinder and some are not. Going forward, it is the interaction that will be the most meaningful.
Last thing, I live in the leadership world. I have been thinking a lot about how so much of it is unreal, more a simulation, very much like The Matrix. Your pieces here are analogous to what I write about at my Substack site - edbrenegar.substack.com. I welcome some interaction, conversation about the world you are viewing and mine. I'm not short, thin, young or pretty. I do spend a lot of time talking with people in your generation. Let's talk. Thanks for really great writing.
Great stuff! Looking forward to the next installment.